a dialogue on mind, consciousness and existence

silent construction

only fifteen meters away,
track ten is being renovated.
beyond that: just another construction site

there are a lot of people on this platform
waiting for the train on track eight

there is the sound of a sledgehammer nearby,
arrivals and changes in the schedule announced,
speakers ‘well’ tuned to the ‘busy’ morning
a stationmaster operating a loud intercom

regardless … there is silence

the train arrives on track seven in stead of eight
a dry announcement, a small irritation, people moving
a woman is blocking the passage
and continues texting on her phone
does the silence also affect her?

clouds pass slowly by
am I the only one seeing them ..

the train glides into the station
2 locomotives, 10 double decker wagons
700 metric tons of steel, 5 meters high, 300 meters long
passengers at barely half a meter of the still speedy monster
then drumming to an estimated position
where doors might perhaps open

the train barely makes a sound,
but when the driver hits the breaks
the sledgehammer nearby drowns for a couple of seconds

mind is still empty
this stillness cannot be broken by sound

I enter the last wagon
a few slow thoughts appear
ready to be typed into the smart phone …

a few days later an editor
tries to get back into the stillness,
to make those whispy thoughts readable
entering them into this blog post.

there is no regret for it having happened, there is perhaps something like gratitude, but the entire experience, if one can call it an experience, warms the heart, this warmth remains for a quite some time. Perhaps I should have written ” … still happy after its gone” 🙂

the moments themselves, although this one lasted about one hour, cannot be evoked. they come by themselves, in this case despite the coffee. Anger or fear, alcohol, indigestion, … have a very negative effect. Any strong desire that makes the mind more than active is also very negative.
On the other hand, I’ve been watching the mind for a long time, on an irregular basis in the past decade. Watching out the window, being startled by something beautiful, sometimes does the trick. Before it lasted seconds, a couple of years ago it happened for minutes. In the past 10 days it happened often — there is happiness in the background, as a result or as a cause, I don’t know.